Tabulator for typewriters



May-2, 1950 G. PREZIOSO TABULATOR FOR TYPEWRITERS Filed Sept. 9, 1947G/l/sz z Pea z/ 030 Patented May 2, 1950 @PATENT OFFICE I "--TABUIATORFOR 'TYPEW'RITERS aGiuseppe Prezioso Yverdon, Switzerland, assignor.,to.-Paillard.-S. A., (Paillaisd Ge, Paillard Limited), .a corporationofswitze'rland ApplicatioWSeintember 9,119.47, Serial-No.- 772,923

Switzerland September 20, 1946 iaclaim's. 1 ;Allr-moderna-typewritersaare provided with a tabulator. .Thei latteris:providedwith stops .in

. number equalfto. the. number of-lettere spacescorresponding with thelength ..of the :platen and adapted .to v, co.-top.erate with the .stop1 members noperatedxbyemeansof-the keys. sThe stops are generally formedby members sliding-between the teeth ofqaicomb' orsgofsa racklocatedparallel to the cylinder:andasecuredwto. the-movable part :of

:thecarriage. .:.'I!he asetting .iin :the active posiaztionaandetherretractioniof-l thBIZStOPS may be efjfected either; manually,-or automatically, by the a'operation of. keys. :Thesetabulators do notgive I entire .1 satisfaction, as they :necessitate a "verycarefu1;-:and=:precise -..operation a in .the production -of the .:stopsand-'-of-.:the=:racka.-in.order to avoid play deleterious-toztheizprecision-of' the-stop'posi- :tionzofzthe.:carriage.-In.;:other-words thestops :must be guided ins-a verycprecise'mannen in.order to :sliderlparallel :to themselves without plays an without.IjSk'lOf wedging.

The present i invention rhas for .;its :subj ect a tabulatori foratypew'riter provided with a number of stops equal to the number ofletter spaces corresponding with the length 'of f the platen and adaptedto .co-operate with .stop *members mounted on the stationary partzof themachine, the stopsbe-ing. carriedibyva racklocated parallel to theplaten and connected rigidly to the movable part of the carriage, thesetting and retraction of the saidstops being contrb'lledby the keys.

"This tabulatontendsto eliminate the said disadvantages bythefactthatthestops are formed by rocking members mounted on a common shaft,

.each'rocking memberbeing'guided between two "teethoft-hecomb-and-si1bjectdto the action of companying drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of the rack cal rying and guiding thestops.

Fig. 2 is a view in section on a larger scale of a portion of Fig. 3.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but in which are showndiagrammatically the members for -j contrclling the setting and theretraction oi the 'stops.

In the form .ot construction-shown .-.the.draw- ,ing,-. the .-.tabulatorv.is provided with a comb or vrack Lsecuredrigidly to themovablepartciof ..thecarriage. ..'I.he. rack. is located parallel to the .a.platen r. ..The.-teeth .2 of. therack for-m between .thema numberofg-uides 3 equalito the number .ofLletter spaces correspondingwiththelength ..of' the platen.

..In .each .of these Fguides. is located a rocking =-member .4, .ofwhich one part thereof only lis ..shown. ..All these-rockingmemberslaremounted .on..a.common.shaft.6 secured. rigidly-to .the comb. ..Aspring 5, formed byrablade is located .injthe .bottom .df each of theguides]. The springs 5 ihaveat. one of.,their.ends abent ortion 8adapted to. be engagedwi th aseat'l .of .the comb.

.-.-Each..rocking.member has two. armsill and .H .anda padl'Z. The'latter'is adapted to.co-

operate with .the. spring. 5 in order'to'hcldlthe Lmrocking memb.er-.automatically in-ea'ch of 'itstwo extreme positions. of which. one isdfinedbythe .engagement of one part ofthe arm ID with the loottomoi theguide 3.and the other by the enga ;inentof apartoffthearm. l I .withthebottom of -the,.guidel.3.

..The rocking .of ."these members from one .01 .itheireextremepositions. into their. other extreme position is. controlled by means-of.two keys'll, ..ltnfrthemachine. The key l5.is connected" by0.ltransmission.members 'to alever-lfi pivoted on -a-shaftv'l'l. (Thevfree end [8 of the lever acts on a. ..control. member 19,.piv0ted on ashaft 20. "This ..controimember has ..abeak 2| adapted to move -angularl'the rocking member from its retracted positionfiposition showninchainedotted lines) .upto itsgactiveposition (position indicated infi'full .sli'nes) .Whenthe l-pad 12i has" .beenisubjec'tedito an angularmovement of sufiicient amplitude to cause it to pass to the oppositeside of the plane perpendicular to the spring 5 and passing through theshaft 5, the spring produces automatically the rocking of the member 4up to its active position (position shown in full lines), and holds themember 4 in this active position. The same occurs during the retractionof the member. The key M is connected mechanically to an actuatingmember 22 pivoted on the shaft l1 and provided with a finger 23 adaptedto actuate the rocking member for the purpose of Withdrawing it from itsactive position and for returning it to its inactive position (shown inchain-dotted lines).

When the pad I2 has been subjected to an angular movement sufiicient topass the neutral zone, that is to say to be again located on the sameside of the plane perpendicular to the spring 5 and passing through theaxis 6 as the arm I l, the spring 5 produces the automatic rocking ofthe member 4 up to its retracted position defined by the arm Hi.

The rocking members, placed into the active position, are adapted tocome into engagement with a stop member 25 mounted on the stationarypart of the machine in such a manner as to be movable vertically betweentwo extreme positions. cally to a control key 26 and is subjected to theaction of a spring tending to hold it in the inactive position (positionshown in Fig. 1). When pressing onthe key 26 the operator can move themember 25 upwardly and place its upper end in the path of the arm ll ofa member 4 placed in the active position.

The operation of the device described is as follows.

The placing in the active position of a stop is obtained in thefollowing manner:

The operator first places the carriage in the longtudinal position inwhich he desires to obtain the stopping of the carriage. By operatingthe key 15 he produces the rocking of the member 4 from its positionshown in chain-dotted lines up to its position in full lines. When theoperator afterwards desires to move the carriage from right to leftautomatically into the selected position it is sufiicient for him to acton a key 26 connected mechanically on the one hand to the stop 25 andeffecting the placing of the latter into the active position (positionshown in Fig. 2) and on the other hand to the retaining pawl (not shown)and producing the release of the carriage. The latter, under the actionof its return spring, then moves from right to left up to a longitudinalposition defined by the engagement of the stop 25 with the arm I l ofthe member 4.

v The retraction of a stop, that is to say the placing in the inactiveposition of a member 4 (position shown in chain-dotted lines) isobtained by placing the movable carriage into a longitudinal positioncorresponding to the position of the said stop 4 and then acting on thekey 14 so as to produce the rocking of the said stop from its positionshown in full lines up to the position shown in chain-dotted lines.

Finally, in order to allow of the simultaneous retraction of any numberof stops placed in the active position, an actuating member 21 isprovided. The latter is formed by a plate 28 of which one of the ends isbent, located parallel to the comb and of a length equal to the latter.The plate 28 is secured to a shaft 29, pivoted in the lateral walls ofthe movable carriage and carrying the operating member 2'! which,operated in The stop member is connected mechanii 4 the direction of thearrow F, produces the retraction of all the riders 4.

From the foregoing and by examination of the drawing, it will be seenthat, by reason of the fac that the stops are formed by rocking members,mounted on a shaft, their guiding can be effected much more easily andtheir operation is much more certain than when, as in known devices, thestops carry out a movement of translation. In fact no risk of wedging isto be feared.

Further, the positions of the said stops are clearly defined and theyare held in each of their positions (active and retracted) by the actionof a simple flat spring placed in the bottom of grooves of the rack.

.I claim:

1. In a typewriter having a stationary part and a carriage movablymounted on the part, a tabulator comprising a toothed rack rigid withsaid carriage, a plurality of stops each mounted on the rack formovement guided between a pair of adjacent rack teeth and including apart projecting laterally and toward the rack, and a plurality ofyieldable means each anchored with its upper end in the rack and havinga smooth surface engaged on its intermediate portion only by theprojecting stop part.

2. In a typewriter according to claim 1 wherein the plurality of stopsare pivoted on the rack.

3. In a typewriter having a stationary part and a carriage movablymounted on the part, a tabulator comprising a toothed rack rigid withsaid carriage, a plurality of stops each mounted on the rack formovement guided between a pair of adjacent rack teeth and including apart projecting toward the bottom of the guide constituted by said pairof teeth, a plurality of yieldable means of arcuate shape, and retainingmeans, retaining each of said yieldable means on the bottom of a guide,each said yieldable means being in engagement, by its intermediateportion, with said projecting part of one of said stops.

GIUSEPPE PREZIOSO.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,157,053 Crumrine May 2, 19392,196,790 Dobson Apr. 9, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date518,525 Germany of 1931

